Conference Agenda

The musicological legacy of Francisco Curt Lange (1903–1997) extends beyond his vast archival production—currently held in repositories throughout Brazil, Venezuela, and Argentina—to constitute a purposeful transnational intellectual network shaped through Musical Americanism. Under the auspices of the ARLAC/IMS Curt Lange Working Group (2018), the 2025 Curt Lange Symposium provided a platform for academic exchange and updated research, mapping thematic intersections and emerging scholarly perspectives that contribute to ongoing debates on decolonial musicology in the Global South. The symposium reflects a shift in Latin American musicology away from narratives centered on Lange’s individual persona toward an understanding of his role as a strategic agent within a networked history. Presentations converged on the concept of the musical archive as a “living network” of sociability, moving beyond traditional musicological analysis to examine the circulation of ideas, subjects, and methodologies. This approach integrates archival research with historiographical revision and positions Lange’s legacy within a “connected history” of music in the Americas. These perspectives are articulated through five key pillars: critical revisionism, epistolary sociability, institutional historiography, transnational mediation, and archival materiality. Together, they enable the reconstruction of power dynamics and cultural exchange within a framework of Networked Musicology. By reassessing Lange’s role as mediator and institutional founder—through initiatives such as the Boletín Latino-Americano de Música and the Instituto Interamericano de Musicología—this paper highlights the strategic use of archival practices and networks of sociability in the institutionalization of musicology in postcolonial contexts.

How did early twentieth-century musicologists imagine cultural relationships across the Americas, and what role did music play in shaping those visions? One influential response emerged in 1933, when Francisco Curt Lange (1903–1997) launched the movement he called "Americanismo Musical." Through a series of initiatives, Lange sought to promote a new musical and cultural consciousness by building networks of sociability with figures in music, culture, and diplomacy across Latin America. This paper examines Lange’s writings on the early development of Americanismo Musical, from the 1934 Montevideo manifesto to his presentation at the American Musicological Society in 1939. These texts include musicological studies, philosophical reflections, and travel accounts, and are complemented by previously unpublished correspondence, which provides new insights into his intellectual project and the networks that sustained it. The paper argues that Lange progressively adapted his discursive strategies to consolidate and expand Americanismo Musical while maintaining core ideological commitments. At the same time, it shows how he gradually redefined the scope of his “Americanism,” moving from a Latin Americanist perspective toward a broader Inter-American framework. By tracing this shift, the study highlights Lange’s role in shaping early musicological thought and illuminates the intellectual and cultural networks that supported the emergence of the discipline in the region.

Almost a hundred years after its emergence in 1933, Americanismo Musical continues to generate diverse and sometimes contradictory interpretations, as demonstrated at the Curt Lange 2025 Symposium organized by the ARLAC/IMS Curt Lange Study Group. The project has been described both as a transnational initiative and as a form of hegemonic musical nationalism. Its Eurocentric dimensions have been critiqued, while its capacity to foster connections across the Americas has been widely recognized. These tensions reflect the complexity of an ambitious project that brought together diverse actors and institutions. This paper focuses on a specific corpus associated with Americanismo Musical: the sixty-six scores published by Lange through the Editorial Cooperativa Interamericana de Compositores (ECIC) between 1941 and 1953. This collection reflects key objectives of the movement, including the inclusion of composers from across the region, the promotion of diverse aesthetic approaches, and the development of a Pan-American perspective. It also occupies a distinctive place in a period when transnational music publishing in Latin America was relatively limited. Drawing on this corpus and related primary sources, the paper examines how editorial practices facilitated the circulation of musical materials between Montevideo, Latin America, and the United States. It also considers the material conditions, aesthetic discourses, and institutional frameworks that shaped the project. Rather than treating the collection as a neutral repository, the paper argues that it constitutes an active mechanism in the dissemination and construction of Latin American art music.